Early Saturday morning, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney announced that he had chosen Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate for the 2012 presidential election.

42-year-old Ryan, is considered a rising GOP star and the party’s leader on fiscal and budgetary issues. Ryan is chairman of the House Budget Committee and the architect of the House GOP’s budget proposal, and his selection as Romney’s vice-presidential pick ensures that the economy will be the defining issue of the election.

Ryan’s place on the ticket is sure to appease the party’s conservative wing, which has never fully warmed to the more moderate Romney. In Ryan, they find a like-minded ally who supports dramatic policy solutions to the U.S.’s fiscal woes. Ryan, who is an energetic debater, will bring youthful vigor to the campaign and will help Romney in Wisconsin and across the Midwest.

However, Ryan also comes with some downsides. Thus far, Romney’s campaign has been geared toward making the election a referendum on the president. Now, Romney is tied to a very specific budget plan that has a name and a face and has been widely criticized by Obama and his fellow democrats. In an April speech, Obama called Ryan’s budget plan a "thinly veiled social Darwinism." Romney’s choice in Ryan will certainly energize the GOP base, but it will also energize Democrats who do not want to see “the end of Medicare as we know it.”

So SodaHeads, what do you think about Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate? Will he be able to win with this ticket?

Don't confuse fear for serious-contempt.I don't care who you are, left or right.I'm no liberal and I don't believe there is really, any conservatives left (if there were, women and blacks would have never been given the right to vote) and I can't stand any communist chiquita who comes off like a flag waving American then socializes her states oil revenues and gives free money, unearned money, to her state citizens and says she's against communism. It gives it a different meaning when she says: You can see Russia from here. Why? No fear! Contempt! I don't like American Olympic uniforms Made In Communist Red China either. Palin ruined my party's chances last time.

You are much less intelligent than you think you are. Your comment about conservatives and women and blacks not voting isn't just ignorant... it's stupid.

And, whether you realize it or not, you can see Russia from Alaska.

"As to the question of whether one can actually see Russia from Alaska, Governor Palin was correct: such a view is possible from more than one place in Alaska. A Slate article on the topic noted that:In the middle of the Bering Strait are two small, sparsely populated islands: Big Diomede, which sits in Russian territory, and Little Diomede, which is part of the United States. At their closest, these two islands are a little less than two and a half miles apart, which means that, on a clear day, you can definitely see one from the other."

Here we go again, you miss the point entirely. You side-step the communistic practice she endorsed in Alaska. And, beyond your grasp, I insinuated "you can see Russia from here" was better a metaphor meaning "communism is so close in Alaska" because of her statement and her practice. But you couldn't grip that concept.
As far as the conservative viewpoint, you missed the fact that the conservative viewpoint, the old way, the non-progressive way, the adhere to traditional way was CHANGED when women and blacks go the vote. Whoosh, right over your head again. True "conservatives" would have NOT been so liberal to accept such a change to the traditional, conservative way. There is no constitutional right to vote in this country. But, I'm sure, that too will blow pass you.
Thanks for the insults. It's your level. Your hipocrisy. But wait, you are a woman, I detect? You still have liberal rights but support conservative innuendo? Don't you think that's a bit odd?

Yuk,yuk,yuk. Taint gots that name Joe...But...Nope. That little black-white kid won't talk to me. I'd give him that "y'all texas whatfor" on my own. I learn't that: y'all, bubba-yaddi-yaddi-blah-blah all on's my owns. Y'all take care now, ya hear.
Come on down for a barbque and a beer. Ya'll like whiskey?

Oh man you sound like a typical ill informed liberal believing whatever the RICH democrats in office and the liberal political RICH activists in Hollywood TELL you. Really..."Please people let President Obama finish this".....Finish what, bringing our country even further into debt where the citizens of the USA become like those in Greece with the layabouts dependent on the government and one day fighting in the streets because their entitlements have to be taken away because OOPS the dem's in office figured out that "spreading the wealth around" doesn't even "work" in America!!!! You sound so silly, brainwashed and politically ignorant saying that Romney wants to make all the middle class pay all the taxes so his rich friends can get tax breaks. Do you just check in to MSNBC to get your "news" in between commercial breaks of watching your REALITY..sitting home watching shows like Jersey Shore et al ???

Are you really that politically ill informed, thus naive enough to believe WHATEVER the left media "reports"/TELLS you? Do you really think that Mitt Romney wants to be POTUS during the worse economic time in DECADES for the middle class, just so he can become POTUS to tax the middle class to help out his "rich friends"???????? Do you have any idea how foolish/ignorant and ill informed you come across by stating something like that?

This isn't going to help him at all. Why would he pick a running mate more conservative than himself? Sure, it "energizes the base", but all of those people were going to vote for him anyway. This does absolutely nothing to sway moderates and independents to his cause, which is what he needed to do.

They seem to have trouble picking VPs for anything other than the sinking boat, wow factor. It must be like the panic that people have when they are drowning, and they do something stupid to pull down the person trying to save them. Feels that way.

Rich, look this is simple math...If an Obama Government keeps taxing the "rich" even more to pay for GOVERNMENT entitlement programs, GOVERNMENT "jobs" and all those union jobs funded by the GOVERNMENT to "rebuild the roads, bridges and highways" in America(by the way, wasn't that the purpose of Obama's $870 billion stimulus package back in 2/09 because there were all those "shovel ready jobs" ready to go lol).. please explain to us who do have a brain when it comes to financial matters..how taxing and spending even MORE via higher tax rates on the "rich" to give to the government to pay for their government jobs... somehow will stimulate the economy when private sector employers will have to lay off people IN ORDER to pay their higher taxes to pay for those "shovel ready" government jobs AGAIN??

Jackie, this is not simple math, and that is how they distract Americans. I don't presume to know all the answers, and frankly, I think that the entire system needs to be trashed and we start all over again. Limited terms for government workers period, from the President to the janitor, no more than 2 terms or 8 years. And no buying elections, like it used to be, and no Lobbyists. That is where I would start. Frankly, I don't see how Obama's plan will help, but I don't hear ANYTHING about Romney that is better. In addition, he is not even honest for 10 minutes, on any subject, and that makes him a bigger problem. Why would that get better when the primary thing that happens to every President is that the naivete' that they have before that first Presidential briefing, is all they have for their hope of being a decent President. They all look dazed and insane after that first month, like "what did I get myself into?" Romney is already dazed, at least Obama's ego might make him pull something out of a hat, just to not go down in history as the worst president in his own mind. Romney doesn't even have that. He is for sale, as was W, to the highest bidder without real ideology that might kick in somewhere, sometime. Only greed as a personality basis.

I can't talk econom...

Jackie, this is not simple math, and that is how they distract Americans. I don't presume to know all the answers, and frankly, I think that the entire system needs to be trashed and we start all over again. Limited terms for government workers period, from the President to the janitor, no more than 2 terms or 8 years. And no buying elections, like it used to be, and no Lobbyists. That is where I would start. Frankly, I don't see how Obama's plan will help, but I don't hear ANYTHING about Romney that is better. In addition, he is not even honest for 10 minutes, on any subject, and that makes him a bigger problem. Why would that get better when the primary thing that happens to every President is that the naivete' that they have before that first Presidential briefing, is all they have for their hope of being a decent President. They all look dazed and insane after that first month, like "what did I get myself into?" Romney is already dazed, at least Obama's ego might make him pull something out of a hat, just to not go down in history as the worst president in his own mind. Romney doesn't even have that. He is for sale, as was W, to the highest bidder without real ideology that might kick in somewhere, sometime. Only greed as a personality basis.

I can't talk economics with you as I'm not qualified, however I know character and historical context. The issues at hand, the policies in place, have little to do with Obama, or even Romney. It is a machine that started in about the 50's, (actually earlier in the early 1900s with the decision to take oil), once the housing industry, the oil companies, tire companies, trucking industries and all related industries conspired to make people move out of the city to the suburbs so that they could sell more houses, more oil, etc. (Sort of the way the Pharmaceuticals, AMA and Andrew Carnegie conspired to make health care look like it does, and the results being more money for them - less health for us - read the Flexner Report of 1911) This short sighted decision based in greed is why we have almost every problem in the US; (read Urban Meltdown by Clive Doucet) why we have become super predatory in our relationships with other countries; why we have global warming; incredible toxicity and are in the horrible shape we are in. Not because Obama took office.

This madness, also cut out street cars, which were not toxic, are green and efficient - lasting 70 years on average, as opposed to the 5 (think that's right but memory might not be) life expectancy of a truck, and all the problems they cause - oil, pollution, tires(rubber), recycling problems that come with it and on and on. So when Romney idiot, says he intends to privatize the railway system - or shut it down, his first leanings that I can no longer find on the internet, oddly, there is absolutely NOTHING that will make me vote for him because it is an indicator of where he lives in his mind. Greedy and short sighted, and in cahoots with his robber baron brethren and sistren! That kind of thinking does not address what you are concerned about. It causes the problems that you are worried about.

" Includes provisions to strengthen Amtrak and improve Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor linking Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. House conservatives want to privatize Amtrak; and presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said this week he would seek to end all federal support for Amtrak. "

Privatizing Amtrak is as evil as privatizing prisons and creating the Prison/Industrial Complex (http://www.historyisaweapon.... People believe that there are more people who deserve to be in prison. That is not true. There are more people there because there was a decision to use the 13th Amendment to create a new slavery system in this country, to get free labor. That is the thinking of the Robber Barons, not a community organizer. That is what you have to look at here, though clearly, I see the issues with Obama also.

The best choice would always be a born wealthy person with a conscience, who understands the needs of many and cares about them, but also has decades and generations of understanding finances, and Robber Baron thinking, but we don't have that and it sure isn't Romney. A second choice might be a self created extremely wealthy person, and I don't mean minor wealth like Obama, but long, heavy wealth, like Rockefellers, but that is hard to find because they are the Robber Barons who caused the problems in the first place. The ones from those families who do care, moved to Tibet to become monks or such, and stay far away from politics, or even money, or they put it into non-profits and that is their focus. Additionally, the person would have to be a person of color, because so many actions the US has taken have been based upon racism, or backed by racism, or more accurately, racism was used to implement horrific policies and actions, and the world is sick of it! Sick enough of it to not retaliate, based upon that same racism. Only a person of mixed race could be in this position now, bridging this gap. So this is what we have to work with. America has reached critical mass now, and like the book title Change or Die!, that is where it is. These world domination policies cannot go on any further.

So why would anyone, in a country that has too many cars, uses 62 percent of the ENTIRE WORLD'S resources, vote for a person who wants to cripple us further with this kind of thinking, to make us more dependent upon other Robber Barons, for the goods and services that have caused us, and the entire world so many problems because we have proven that what we want, we will take, and leave others without? It is insane to operate against our own self interest, and that is all he does on a base, gut level, and he manipulates people who think in small, insular, limited thinking to do so. He operates for his own self interest and those with him and the rest of us be damned, literally.

He is without doubt for big business, and in this country, big corporations are short sighted and do not care about anything except making more money at the expense of our health, our children, grandchildren. He represents just that. Why would anyone ever vote for him? Do you think that suddenly he will flip flop to not doing what he has always done, and be concerned about the people here? Never going to happen. He will put the final nails in our coffin, AND alienate us from the rest of the world in the process.

There is another huge, huge issue that is not being paid attention to. America is the big bully of the world, and a whole lot of countries are absolutely and completely sick of it. i don't think most Americans really understand what that means because they don't travel, and are extremely short sighted. They only read what they are interested in which is usually biased, especially far left or right papers, and they don't learn by examples such as South Africa. Colonialism and the arrogance of conquering other countries in order to TAKE what you want, is over. Romney has not got a snowball's chance in hell of bridging the gaps that Obama has got with world relationships. He just proved that on this trip he took. He is too removed from anything other than what he wants. The next few years will determine whether or not other countries will begin to bring war to our shores, like we have done to their countries for centuries. I heard an Englishman, about the most non-violent people there are, say that at this point, America (US) as a country, was so childish and silly, that it was "about time somebody just blew up the country, so they can start all over again and learn to be civil, because Americans have no clue how to do that now."

The economy is really not the biggest issue, because it is the Robber Barons creating the insanity, fear, etc. so that they can steal more from the world that is. Keep US citizens stupid, and take away anything that makes sense. If you can find a copy, watch Century of the Deal. Eye opening.

Obama is the ONLY hope we have, if you step back and look at the big picture, because Romney will continue to destroy us from within, and he will put us into World War III, I'm sure of it. He's too stupid not to, just like Bush got us where we are now in international affairs with his lies and games just for him to make more money. Having a person who does not think like that, or at least have an historical backing of it, which is your complaint I take it -- that he does not know economics enough -- really might help us. Because what if he had done exactly what Bush (s) did, and manufacture a war, just to steal oil, and get a foothold on more of it, which made us so thoroughly hated in the world. Obama is not moving fast enough repairing it, and I'm not happy with Afghanistan at all, but I also can't imagine what he has to do to get anything done in this insane atmosphere in this country that he has to endure with the racism and hatred. It will take steps.

Even as a gamble on what he will do the next term, and I do think he is going to be very, very different for his last term, it is still a better gamble than the certainty of what Romney will do.

I'm extremely pleased that you are discussing issues, and not just attacks though. Thanks for that.

If you followed politics in depth(other than what you read or are TOLD via the liberal media) YOU'D KNOW that Ryan is considered to have a brilliant mind(even to those few Dem's in office who still care about our country) when it comes to NUMBERS and he knows how to balance a budget, which is sorely needed right now in our country since Obama and his Senate majority(D) have not passed ONE budget(required under law, but eh it's Obama let is slide) since Obama took office... because even Obama's own party holding the Majority on the Senate floor wouldn't bring Obama's budget up for a vote because even THEY knew if any of them voted for Obama's budget that it would be political suicide for the Dem party if they were coerced/FORCED to vote for it...thus no budget being passed since Obama took office. Another "1st" for this country under Obama.

First off, I don't watch what you consider the "liberal" media. I don't watch the ACTUAL liberal media either *coughMSNBCcough*, nor do I watch the conservative media, also known as Fox News. If you don't either, great. Let's have a discussion. If you do, please go away.

Now we've got that out of the way, I never said Ryan was an idiot. That would be Sarah Palin, and we're done with her, thank goodness. I acknowledge his intelligence and respect him for it. I also think he might be a ninja, based on his evasion of the reporters outside his house over the weekend, but that's neither here nor there.

I have no problems with the man personally; he's probably a decent guy. In fact by all accounts he is. I don't agree with his social or economic policies, but that's true of a lot of people, even many whom I consider friends. I don't want him as the Vice President, or even in Congress for that matter, but that's as far as I go.

As for my original point (which you did not address), I answered the question; I do not think Ryan will help Romney's presidential bid, as the only people whose opinions were affected positively by the announcement were people who were going to vote for Romney anyway.

Unfortunately the drones will jump up and down listening to the lies of Romney and Ryan rather than looking at their track records. It's horrible to see two people who support the same policies as the last jackass in office come so close to winning while those who are different are so far away from winning.